Just like so many times before, third Ryan Fry made the big shot for skip Brad Jacobs — a beautiful double thrown between a pair of guards during their first game of the Humpty’s Champions Cup in Saskatoon.

Watching the team play, the talent and the chemistry are still on full display — but after five medals at the Tim Hortons Brier, a silver medal at the World Curling Championships, and the coveted Olympic gold at Sochi in 2014, Fry is parting ways with Jacobs’ rink.

“The one thing everyone knows about Fry is he’s a very talented player,” Jacobs said. “I’ve had a front-row seat to some of the best curling shots I’ve ever seen, period, and they were made by Fry.”

“Fry and I have a great relationship … I’m really comfortable with him in the house,” he said. “We’ve been doing it for seven years, so we really do have a special bond.”

When Jacobs’ rink from Sault Ste. Marie in Ontario first burst onto the professional scene, most of the curling world took note. The team consisting of Jacobs, Fry, and Ryan and EJ Harnden was brash, emotional, and unafraid to play the risky big-weight shots.

Th Jacobs team is also well-known for their level of athleticism and fitness. Whether or not they are the team that sparked the revolution of curlers as physically top-notch athletes, their winning ways put them at the forefront of a new wave of curlers in Canada and around the world.

Jacobs downplayed his team’s effect on curling today, but Fry was a bit more straightforward.

“We were a little brash, a little bit more aggressive than teams had seen before; we took the fitness aspect of the game to a whole new level,” he said. “I think we definitely, as a foursome, had a big impact in changing the game.”

Fry took a sabbatical at the end of November after he and a team for which he was subbing were disqualified from a Red Deer bonspiel for “unsportsmanlike behaviour.” Marc Kennedy, another Olympic gold medallist, filled in for Fry in his absence and will become a permanent fixture on Team Jacobs with Fry heading to John Epping’s team in Toronto.

It’s Epping’s last tournament as this foursome, as well — Craig Savill will leave the team to make room for Fry next year. Epping has experienced success of his own and he said it’s “never fun” to change up a team, but when Fry reached out to him he couldn’t pass up the chance to add a player of Fry’s calibre to the team.

“Ryan’s one of the best, not just thirds, on the planet, but players in general,” Epping said. “He’s such a solid player, he’s been a great teammate for Team Jacobs.”

Fry said it’s not really in his head that this is the last tournament he’ll play with this team, and it’s a move he and the rest of the squad have long since made peace with.

“Once you make the decisions, you have the conversations and you get through it,” Fry said. “We’ve been best buddies from the start, and we’re going to continue to be really close friends.”

But very soon, Jacobs will no longer be turning to Fry to make those big shots.

“We have reached the pinnacle of the sport. This team is always going to hold a special place in all of our hearts, especially our friendship with Ryan,” Jacobs said. “It is sad to see it come to an end.”